Now all roads lead to France and heavy is the treadOf the living; but the dead returning lightly dance.

Edward Thomas, Roads

Thursday, May 21, 2015

This Is How the News Came

Order of Induction into Military Service of the United States

The President of the United States

To: Joseph W. Doakes,

Greeting: Having submitted yourself to a local board composed of your neighbors for the purpose of determining the place and time in which you can best serve the United States in the present emergency, you are hereby notified that you have now been selected for immediate military service.

You will, therefore, report to the local board named below at: 48 South Grand Avenue at 4 pm, February 16, 1918 for military duty.

From and after the day and hour just named you will be a soldier in the military service of the United States.

Diane, I've made extensive use of the Ancestry.com WWI draft registration database, and I agree with your assessment. Users would do well to remember that all kinds of spellings are possible. We are at the mercy of, first, the interaction between the person who is registering and the clerk taking his information. Next is the problem of spelling some names, particularly the names immigrants. Finally, a transcriber had to read the name in order to digitize and catalog the card. Still, these are a great resource for historians!Pete

Don't forget that World War I draft registration cards are also available on FamilySearch.org: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1968530. Having multiple search options increases the chance of success.

Fascinating wording! I'm really struck by the use of euphemism, as well as reference to the community as the decider of the action: "Having submitted yourself to a local board composed of your neighbors for the purpose of determining the place and time in which you can best serve the United States in the present emergency...."

IT was such a polite era. Off they went to the trenches. Waving goodbye- mostly they had no real idea of what they were about to experience. Not in any realistic way. But they were very ready to do their duty if called on ," By their Neighbors."

Editors & Contributors

Roads to the Great War is part of the Worldwar1.com (link) family of websites and periodicals. It is produced by an editorial team, growing for over a decade, that includes: Michael Hanlon, Kimball Worcester, David Beer, Tony Langley, Donna Wagner, and Diane Rooney. We will also be inviting other WWI historians, enthusiasts, and collectors to contribute to Roads.